On Stoke Newington High St, you will find lots of places to eat, however if you’re a local or happen to be visiting the area, we’d recommend you do pop by Victory Mansion opposite the police station, for their delectable tacos. It’s been on the high street for over two years, but they recently changed the menu to make it more affordable for local residents and its going down a storm; based on keen observations.

Victory Mansion is a cute, cosy and quirky restaurant bar, that appears to have an affinity for golden-age America, based on the art work displayed on the walls as well as indicated by the cocktail menu. For those who like a drink, you won’t be disappointed, the wine menu goes from strong to stronger, and they have an extensive cocktail menu to choose from, all divided by chapters for your drinking pleasure. Be warned there’s enough to keep you distracted and musing for a while, which in my opinion is a good thing. It also features interesting and boozy quotes in each chapter, which is a nice touch.

I went along with my fiancé and he decided to try out the Winston Smith cocktail, from chapter 1, we loved the name and the sound of it, Appleton rum, gingered J. Wray, peach, amaretto, green tea, pineapple, angostura bitters. Yes, the green tea may sound strange, but you won’t taste it, for me it was reminiscent of a Caribbean rum punch, but not as sweet. Its served in an epic tiki mug, with the face of I guess, a slightly angry Winston, which you cant’ help but laugh out aloud at! We were kindly gifted one, yay, cue me getting ready to make my own Winston Smith in my kitchen, for those of you wanting to do the same, the tiki mug is available to purchase from Victory Mansion.

The Henry Chinaski which compromises of pineapple run, cognac, limocello and pineapple sugar, sounded right up my alley, and was super tasty, it gave me yummy margarita vibes and resides in chapter 3 under crazy coupes.

I later had to try a cocktail from Sparkling ladies chapter 4, called holy golightly, and consisted of rose & elderberry infused Hendricks gin, lemon topped off with bubbly. I think it was the quote from Breakfast at Tiffany’s that had me intrigued. It was delicious, what I’d call a pimped-up Bellini smooth, sweet and sparkling. It’s fair to say Victory Mansion’s cocktail game is strong, I’m sure we’ll be back for more.

The staff were warm and friendly and explained the menu, you can see they love making cocktails, shaking and stirring away at the bar. It was a busy Friday evening and people were flowing in, it had a neighbourhood vibe, like it’s a treasured spot amongst locals. As we pondered over the menu, we were helpfully advised that its best to order two tacos and a side order each and then go from there, and it was spot on advice, anymore, I would have been rolling out of there.

The taco menu is healthy, colourful, bright and flavoursome, which is not surprising as the head chief has a rich background in Asian cuisine. There’s something for everyone, my fiancé is vegetarian and ordered the crispy cauliflower & black bean taco, which has a tasty blend of avocado, pepper mayo and tamarind ragu, a must try. I’m not the biggest cauliflower fan, but I have to admit this taco tasted good. He also had the grilled broccoli taco with hints of lime along with the duck relish made for a healthy tasty dish. I ordered the yellow bean leeks, fermented yellow beak leeks, haloumi, sweet potato and mustard relish which tasted fresh and light. As well as the Nahm Jim chicken, liver pate, pickles, crispy onions and kampot pepper mayo was a tangy mouthwatering delight. For meat lovers they have a beef short rib taco and red pepper pork neck taco as well as a couple of fish tacos, seabream and blackened river trout which all sounded nice.

We both order a portion of MSG fries for our side – they’re not actually MSG, in fact they use grounded nori (seaweed) to replace the addictive MSG, so its naturally good, and addictive in a good and healthy way. And the charred corn another must have dish, it’s basically charred chilli corn, mayo, puffed quinoa, feta and live, and its simply amazing, going back to plain old ordinary corn with a nob of butter just won’t do it for me now! I’ll be trying to recreate this divine creation. It’s so simple but tasty!

All in all, Victory Mansions is a great place, with a casual relaxed vibe, great drinks and food and what’s great is the reasonable prices, with each taco costing around £3.50/£4 you won’t be breaking the bank either and won’t feel so guilty if you find yourself popping in regularly for your fav dish.

It is a casual venue so can work well for a date, with your mates, for a quick drink and a light bite. When it comes to dessert, you only really have one choice if you’re a sweet tooth like me, it’s either cheese or madeleines, we ordered madeleines, made of cookie dough and chocolate madeleines, which were warm and scrumptious, but could have done with the option of ice cream or cream on the side. We left the restaurant ranting about how good everything was, so with that said I’ll give them a well-deserved..4 out of 5.